Choose your favourite Arsenal partnership this season: vote now!

Arsenal has benefited from a strong increase of togetherness and collective purposefulness this season, and without any doubt this has been one of the main reasons for our recent super-recovery that led us into the top-three again.

In this blog, I zoom in on a number of partnerships within our team, as they have been big contributing components of Arsenal’s collective togetherness this season. During this transitional season, I have really enjoyed seeing partnerships develop all over the pitch. The most obvious ones are those between the five in defence, the three in midfield (the wall of ARS) and three upfront, but in this blog I would like to zoom in a bit deeper towards the mini-partnerships within AND between the lines: those between two players.

Today’s blog is an interactive one, and it would be great if you could score the partnerships at the end of the blog.

This is my main selection of partnerships, but feel free to comment on other partnerships you feel have also worked well this season.

Partnership 1 Mertesacker and Koz:

It seems a long time since these two players formed our regular CB pairing. It took Mertesacker some time to adjust to the PL, which is quite understandable given the fact he had to hit the ground running, due to his late arrival. What Mertesacker missed in mobility he made more than up in his reading of the game, his positional play and his ability to bring calmness and organisation to our defence. Koz has had a fine season and seemed to thrive next his German counterpart. Koz is good in the air and great on the ground, and his excellent reading of the game, high energy levels and tackling skills made him a fine match for Mertesacker. In a way, it is a shame this partnership was not able to complete the season, as undoubtedly, it would have grown even stronger.

It took this partnership a few games to gel again, but once they did we have seen some very fine performances. TV and Koz are quite similar: very energetic, strong in the air and on the ground, relatively small but with a big jump, and good readers of the game. They are both fast and like to support the midfield with pressing and making forward runs. At times, I feel they lack calmness as their over-exuberance can get the better of them, but over time this could well grow into our regular CB pairing. In recent games against Milan (at home) and Citeh we have been able to see how strong this partnership can be.

This partnership became so strong during the season that Arsenal became quite lob-sided towards the right. Arsenal really missed Sagna during his long lay-off, especially when his direct replacement, the very promising young talent of Jenkinson, also got injured. Theo and Sagna have a fine understanding of each other and are prepared to work hard for each other as well. Theo could sometimes provide better defensive cover for Bacary, but opposing teams have often opted to attack Arsenal on our left side, where we have been our weakest at times. Sagna’s support in attack is great, really working the available space well with Theo. His crossing has improved quite a bit too (remember his cross for RvP against Pool?!). Since the return of Sagna, Theo has had a number of fine games resulting both in goals and assists that have coincided with our good run of results.

Theo and Robin have become an assist-making and goal-scoring super machine this season. RvP’s partnership with Theo has been significantly stronger and more effective than the one with our attacking midfielder. In previous years, Robin had a close and effective partnership with Cesc, but since the latter’s departure it has shifted towards the right winger. Theo, like most wingers, has had high and lows this season, but in the last few months he has shown what he is capable of again. Robin has been very appreciative of Theo’s assists and general play, and has mentored him successfully back to form. I hope we can cope with the loss of Theo in the remaining three games: it won’t be easy.

Aaron has had a tough learning season. Arsene preferred him in the advanced AM role at the start of the season. Initially, Ramsey played close to Song and Arteta and he moved closer to RvP as the season progressed. I thought he had a good spell during the last two months of 2011, but overall he struggled to make this role work effectively. Although there have been moments of good cooperation between RvP and Ramsey, with the latter making good runs in the box on a regular basis, it is fair to say there has not been much partnership between them. It somehow just did not click enough, and it has become more and more clear that this is not the best role for Ramsey (although one or two AA-ers might disagree with this!).

The big question here is: is there a partnership between Rosicky and RvP? It is definitely nowhere near as close as that between RvP and Cesc last season. When Rosicky plays for us, we seem to have a better shape to the team, as he is better equipped to play the advanced AM role. His return to form has coincided with the team’s good run of form, and he deserves a lot of credit for it.

However, he seems to prefer a free role all over the pitch in which he collects/wins balls with the aim to move them on quickly as to create an attacking move. He does not play very close to RvP in front of the ‘D’ a lot, which makes it much harder to form a close partnership. Rosicky scores seldom and also does not have many assists, but his drive and ability to speed things up are important assets, as are his abilities to support the midfield defensively.

I am sure most of us will agree that Arteta has been our best new arrival this season. Wenger did not slot him into the attacking midfielder role, but partnered him with Alex Song for almost the entire season, instead. Slowly but steadily they have formed a very fine understanding of each other and together they posses all the midfield skills you could hope for. Alex is the better defender, but can also produce world-class assists. Mikel reads the game really well, links up defence with attack seamlessly, covers very effectively, and can score with long-distance shots and free-kicks. They have formed the axis, the centre of our team and have carried us through many difficult games with their skills, energy and work ethics.

I don’t think many of us would have anticipated at all a possible partnership between Alex and Robin at the start of the season. For a start, they are positioned too far away from each other to form an effective partnership. But then not many of us knew that Song was capable of such an incredible, long-distance lofted pass. RvP and Song have developed a telepathic understanding of each other and it is fair to say that most of our magic moments this season were a result of this very understanding of each other, combined with their phenomenal individual skills. Together they were able to break walls down in front of them and to win games between them for us.

There are other partnerships that I could have included, but these were the main ones for me this season. Arsenal had too many changes on the left hand side to include any of them, although I really liked the short one between Santos and Gervinho at the start of the season. I also could have focussed on the partnership (of 3) between Szczesny and the CB’s, but again there have been too many changes this season to do it justice.

So here we are. I am looking forward to find out how the various partnerships will score on a scale from 1 to 5 (one being the lowest and five being the highest) and which one will come out on top. Please elaborate on your scores as much as you like in a separate comment.

I believe that had BFG stayed fit AW would have had some very difficult decisions to make. Much as I love TV, his tendency to push the team forward through his strength of character led to the loss of defensive cohesion (on occasion).

After Chesney and RvP, the first names on the team sheet would be Song and Arteta. Such is their influence in the team. They have been remarkably consistent.

Theo has not only developed offensively, he has improved hugely in his covering work and is often back on his won 12 yd line looking for scraps and helping shield the defence.

In a way, the partnerships we were looking at voting for, naturally shared the good and not so good value judgements equally between them.

What I mean is, in a partnership of two, as above, it is quite possible to look at the outcome and say (from the fans point of view) that it worked very well or not very well and calculate a satisfaction %.
That is a perfectly valid way of applying a value judgement.

However, we might need to reflect on the value contributions of the individuals within the partnership to ascertain whether or not the partnership was functioning at an optimum level.

The partnership between (say) Theo and RVP may get a reasonably high joint satisfaction rating, based presumably on a quantifiable output measured in goals scored. However, what are the chances of that partnership achieving a high valuation if Robin had not banged in some incredible goals, and would he have banged in even more with a different partner.

Alternatively, what if Theo had made many great assists and Robin had been unable to convert as many of those chances into goals as he should have done, would we then say Theo was great but RVP was the weak link and we would have been better off trying someone else as Theo’s partner.

There is probably a degree of ‘examining the fluff in your navel’ about my point, as it is in danger of becoming too complicated, but in any partnership there is an element of altruism which is essential to make it work.
As I have used the Theo/RVP partnership as an example, this altruism can be divined by Robin praising Theo for his ‘assists’ because he knows without them he personally, as well as the team, would not have benefited by scoring all the goals he did.

Equally, Theo knows that Robin’s brilliance and determination to get on to the end of his assists reflects very well on him too, and has said how much he loves playing with RVP.

Their partnership, like all the others above would not work without this symbiotic relationship one feeding off the other.

TA, you are a little genius in coming up with another enjoyable and though provoking poll! 🙂

Rocky never used to accept my reasons for not writing Posts, and thought I just couldn’t be arsed.

He has now seen the light and gone quiet in recent months, so he would now agree with your sentiment. My witless ramblings are generally incomprehensible and just not fit to be unleashed on our unsuspecting and innocent blogging fraternity! 🙂

I think one of the most interesting and alarming aspects of this post is that there is no box for the Gerv/Robin combo. Even more worrying is the fact that I would not be surprised to discover we think Robin’s best partnership is with one of our deeper lying midfielders in Song.

RA@9.56 🙂 All true, all true. I needed a coffee after I read your comment, hahaha, or as Terry and Henrychan would say: hehehe 😆

I am simply banking on the fact that fellow Gooners know a good partnership when they see one. When two work together and get the best out of each other to the maximum benefit of the team, then we are talking of a complete partnership. 🙂

Dost is one to keep an eye on, I agree. At 1.92 meter he is tall, yet not lanky, he positions well in the box and is a cool finisher, and he takes a very fine penalty (see video, especially nr8, very Johan Neeskens!!).

Bravo on another fantabulous headline post Total (all in a few minutes work, he says 😉 )..
GM’s gonna be thrilled to see he gets to vote again

I’ve been most impressed with the song, arteta combo..they just compliment each other so well.. Arteta is intelligent to realise that when song gets hot in the head and decides to go forward he must hold and plug in the gaps, and this has given song a lisence to push in search of magic and vice versa (but not so often)..They almost work like two pistons…up n down

the robin theo combo is special as well as all the damage we do tends to slant on the right flank..but in saying this, the impact really only comes when you add Sagna to this tripod combo… one must recognise and appreciate Redders’ comment at 9.56am to understand what i am trying so hard to explain..Robin is dangerous thanks to theo who is, in turn dangerous thanks to sagna…( i think that makes sense, although i imagine my old english teacher with her bright red pen scribbling ‘WAFFLE’ all over the page)

Micky,
top top comment at 10.31am. Cant wait for Prince Pod to strike a partnership with Robin on the left..and what you say about song goes to show we miss that bit of magic in the hole..

By the way Micky and Chas thanks for the info this morning and in regards to your tosser comment- 95% do it, and 5% are lying 😉

You did leave one important partnership off your list: Park and Chamakh have been outstanding this season. Without their intuitive understanding we could easily have had a situation where, say, one of them gets up from his end of the bench without warning the other, whose own end of the bench would then seesaw to the ground.

I’m told that early in their relationship this happened several times when Park was second-to-last man on the bench and Arshavin was beside him as last man. When Park stood up, the other end of the bench – where Chamakh was sitting next to Santos’s arse – would plummet groundwards and poor little Andrey would be catapulted high into the air.

But once the pair learnt to stand up and sit down in tandem, all was well.

Back from my MRI and thoroughly magnetised.
(old back problem – nothing serious, but thanks for your concern).

Unfortunately I had a Redders type experience because I made the mistake of reading Chas’s link from earlier this morning just before I went in.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had an MRI, but they lie you on a table and slide you into a tube and give you a pair of headphones that do nothing to keep out the cacophony of banging and knocking noises that goes on for half an hour. (If you prefer, imagine being in one of those Japanese pod hotels while listening to Euro Techno Grunge).

The problem is, you are meant to lie perfectly still while the magnets do their thing… but I couldn’t stop laughing about Chas’s link and the technician got very cross.

I managed to tough it out, but I was shaking with laughter for most of the duration and I fully expect the MRI images to be as blurred as my holiday snaps.

It is true that in order for RvP and Theo to form a good attacking partnership, Theo needs to form a good wing partnership with Sagna, and Sagna needs a good partnership with one of the CB’s and DM’s as well, etc, etc. Dissecting the whole of a team into partnerships will never produce a 100% accurate picture, but from the scores and subsequent comments I have already learned a few things this morning.

another combo partnership which im sure ive won a few people over with is changing our formation so that RVP sits in the hole with any of theo, pod, or (someone quick) in front of him..you might say that means less goals but does it really?..RvP is intelligent to spot a pass and release a player before he runs offside…Oh how i want a flair player in the hole!

Micky, you always know how to creatively link things up! That makes me wonder how many of GM’s wife were first-met, and subsequently seduced, whilst he was fumbling about with their hair and you name ti?! 🙂

RL, you did a good post on that very topic a while ago and I fully agreed with you back then as I do now. I know it would leave Vermaelen out, but maybe it is time to move him into Micky’s 3-5-2 or into Song’s position next season…. We cannot do without his beastly energy and tenacity!

The defensive make up is going to be very interesting next season, I thought BFG did very well in his spell at centre back as well, and Koscielny alongside him looked, maybe better than when playing alongside TV.

But the 3-5-2 could answer the problem or even a 3-4-3 (which i think works better with our squad) We could always switch to 4-3-3, or 4-5-1 for certain games, but I think 3-4-3 enables us to put the best players in the team on the pitch and gives us plenty of options.

Now there’s an idea for a post, with all the players in our squad how many possible unique line-ups could you create (allowing for different previously seen formations – i.e. I’m not having 1-9-1 which would be the first option to get every midfielder in.

Thanks for the comments about the hair removal link. I couldn’t stop laughing so assumed it would have a similar effect on others.

Rocky,
Hope you don’t have to go back to redo the MRI. 🙂

GIE,
The 3 at the back with the BFG in the middle is a very appealing prospect. I think Gibbs used to be a left winger as well, didn’t he?
Bacary could play as the sweeper in a back three, too, as his covering is excellent.

TA – very clever post, really got me thinking. I guess my fav has to be Theo and RvP, it was so good to see Robin taking young Theo under his wing. That’s what a good captain would do, and fair play to both it worked wonders.

My least favourite is the partnership between our defenders and the goalie. Many a goals this season we lost because of misunderstandings between those. Admitedly it has improved of late, but there is scope for improvement, don’t you think?

You have made me laugh by revealing the adaptation of the dwarf throwing game.

The vision of Chamakh and Park achieving synchronicity in hurling Arshavin from one end of the dressing room to the other indicates a degree of dedication and skill they have never displayed on the pitch.

I think it also throws a new light onto why Na$ri left. I suspect the little dear was jealous that the boys did not give him a toss!

Interesting developments! It is double necks to double necks with Vermaelen/Koz in the lead with only 0.7% ahead of Art/Song and very surprisingly, closely followed by Song/RvP with only just 2.3% behind. The Wal/RvP partnership is making the biggest gains at the top and have entered the 80% territory – will they close the gap to the top-3 today?

I was intrigued earlier to see that there was an unequal spread of voting, in as much as, you would expect one person to vote for all categories of ‘partnership’ and 100 persons would also vote for all categories of partnership.

In fact the lowest number of voters in any category was at 3:18;
254 with the highest being 276.

Now this means that either some could not be arsed to vote for all the partnerships (odd) or that some are voting more than once and skewing the results (cheating sod).

Theo is clearly sneaking onto AA and voting for himself – several times!! 🙂 or the award winning Glic voter is up to mischief!! 🙂

I have consistently proposed TV as an attacking/all round MF. As TA said in his piece, his, and Kozzer’s, adventurous side can get us into trouble, but that is borne out of frustration and a desire to drive the team on.

Gibbs and Sagna at fullback;
Kozzer and the the Jolly Green Giant as CBs;
Song/TV just in front of them.
Jack in the hole behind RVP (slightly unfortunate terminology).
Pod and Theo out wide.

Hi RA, I don’t know exactly what is happening, but I reckon some bloggers did either not bother completing all the boxes or thought they had to choose a favourite partnership first and then score it (so have only completed one of the eight voting box) in the process. I don’t think it makes much, if any, difference though, but then I am not a master of statistics. 🙂

i like your set up and why not? Although Rasp must be frothing at the mouth that you havnt included ‘zorro’..

with TV5 in midfield we no longer have to entertain the idea of spending huge sums on specialist players for their position such as M’villa..Instead we could promote internally and continue to prosper with our youth (Bartley, Miquel)..On the other hand we can spend our money wisely by buying utility players who can play in more than one position (vertonghen)

but what would i know..

i also like santos further up the pitch

but what would i know..

i’ll let the genius in my gravatar do the thinking, talking, accounting

Everybody’s laughing today, ha! I was driving at laughing at Micky’s comment about Rocky’s MRI revealing healthy brain, in his back 🙂
could be worse I suppose

One more thing about last night’s game. I loved the colours; it was so clear to see formations moving – white line or a red line of players. The Germans were very orderly, obviously, but Maureen trained his divers pretty well too. It was a much better game than the one on Tuesday, no?

RA – I have on average 2 hospital/doctors apps a week, I am sure they are making me ill

Great post TA. And interesting comments from GIE and red arse. Im glad some people have pointed out that bfg was really bedding in well just before the injury. His play was very solid, so much about anticipation and positioning. No wonder the press never noticed, its too subtle for casual or ignorant viewers.
thats why vertonghen isnt coming, and THATS why we probably wont see a three man back line, but i LOVE the concept GIE, we would need more depth at cb. You know arsene would start the same three about 50 times in a season haha. any injuries would mean squid or djourou. Hopefully bartley or miquel next season. Maybe then we could try it?
i will say that my fav partnership, is the least obvious. But i think the most important has been arteta song. They have both excelled together more than we could have hoped.

I am a bit ashamed to make such a fuss, when I see some of the really sick people in the unit having similar treatment.

16 months ago, before I started feeling unwell, I had not been to a doctor for over 30 years, since I broke my arm as a 7 year old. 🙂

TA, I am a typical accountant, I notice little details without even thinking about them. It does not detract from your Poll as it is a bit of fun and certainly reveals interesting trends.
[still think Theo is cheating — or is it RVP] 🙂

thanks for an interesting poll
.
I would argue that none of the choices are as yet “a complete success” for the simple reason that we have had to change the squad around more than often this season.

IMO whoever you pair Mertesacker with is not a great partnership, as from what I have seen of him he is not a typical Wenger player and is so slow and can’t head a ball, two of the main attributes of a central defender.

The Arteta/Song partnership has certainly saved our season, and Rasp’s El Zorro has been a revelation in his calming influence and also enthusiasm in driving some of the younger guys on to try harder.

Good captaincy material if ever RVP stood down or left?

I left Arteteteta 🙂 out of my team, above, to accommodate TV, but frankly in any season we need a big squad to rotate, or to play in Cups, and your suggestion of Bartley, Miquel, Santos and others would form part of that set up, but not least MA.

Oh, and also, i think there was a chance for gerv and rvp to work very well together. Gerv started out very well attacking and assisting, with some work needed on his scoring, but the red card, and africa cup really threw off any chance of continuity. But the potential is there. I say he should skip africa cup next time for the good of his team, because even he himself admitted it hurt his season for us.

Hi Evonne, nice to see you are still speaking to me 🙂 It sounds you are going through a bit of rocky period at the moment 😦

I love your description of the colours on the pitch, but then they were the colours of Arsenal as well as the Polish flag. So no surprise there, right?

It was a good match yesterday. It was just fantastic to see what BM’s goal meant for Maureen’s mummy’s boys. They fell straight back into Maureen’s old behaviour to play it safe, as they were dead scared for a second BM goal, which would have meant RM having to score at least two. BM knew that and were allowed/capable to control much of the game in the second half and extra time. It effectively became a chess game in which BM had a strong advantage.

TA – what do you mean ‘still speaking to you’, why wouldn’t I ?! You are the golden boy of AA 🙂

No, not rocky times, I am just a sickly person, hate that about me. Peaches would describe me as ‘a bit pathetic’ 🙂
Yes, red and white are my beloved colours, terrific combination. Real looked rattled at times, didn’t quite know how to play the Germans, but overall did well. I think that Maureen came a long way since his chelsea times and is becoming a decent manager. Cut the crap and theatrics out, and RM are an excellent team.

Evonne, your English is very good too! I can well imagine Peaches saying that, not that it is true. of course!

I have no time for a team and a manager that is so expensive and is all build around enormous debts. When Barca started to dominate in Spain and Europe they went mad in Madrid and somehow put the best part of £300m pounds on the table to buy whatever was needed to be able to beat the Catalans again. Out went Robben, Sneijder, Huntelaar, vdFart etc and in came Uber-Portuguese mummy’s boy, Benzema, Kaka and many other after that. So every time I see them fail, I have a big smile on my face. The fact that Robben scored the penalty that did so much damage in the end is extra pleasant. Not because I like Robben so much – in fact, I think he is a bit of what GM would call ‘front bottom’ – but because they had no patience and dumbed one of the best wingers in Europe without any scruples.

Whatever that recipe would lead to, you would provide the Arsenal-musical ingredients in it. I still have good memories of the music post you did for us a while ago, and I hope you are working on another one again. No pressure though – I know you have been working hard, judging from your recent comments.

You are obviously not the only one with doubts about Mertesacker, but I just think he is the sort of player we have missed since the departure of Sol.

Regarding a partnership being a complete success, again I cannot agree with you totally. Some of the above partnerships have played for a long time together and have had a big impact in changing the season around. I think the high scores the AA bloggers are giving to some of the partnerships is proof of the fans really rating them highly, as in a complete or almost complete success.

TA,
Has to be Kos and Vermaelen.I accept Vermaelen does roam about upfield, especially when we are chasing a goal, and i belive he has he most goals in the PL from his position. I get the impression he could actually play anywhere in defence and in midfield.

Most encouraging partnership or i would rather say reading, is that between Song and RVP.

TOTAL ARSENAL, or TA, thanks for asking 🙂 im johnnie in new york city, keep forgetting to mention that im really new gunner and football fan( just a couple of years) but as a brit friend of mine complimented me on my observations, that i watch super closely with a fresh set of eyes to learn as much as i can.
to red arse, i totally get your point on arteta. I have been worried all season that he would break down to lack of rest. I have been calling for arsene to move rambo from am to rest mikel occasionally, largely to get ramsey out of am role. Hopefully next season there will be others in the mix to share with arteta. U.S. NFL fans have learned that fatigued players do not always keep moving the way they should, and often pick up injuries. Sometimes its just luck, but arteta isnt getting any younger. Same with rosicky, question is who will play there also?

Hi Johnnie,
Totally agree about tiredness. Something we do over and over. Trouble is this season Arteta has become one of the players we most depend on. Next season we’ll have Jack back as well as Coquelin getting more playing time.

Total, you`ve done it to me again, a long one after I`ve driven 500 miles 👿
So !`ve just done the fun part for now ! 🙂
I will read the rest later and tomorrow, It will probably be brilliant as usual ! 🙂

I usually think of observations on my long haul inbetween listening to Talksport, being restrained nowadays , not to do ” Toilet” stuff, It`s harder ( hehehe), so this one`s a semi (hehehe).
I`ve read today that Scientists in Florida have actually found a women`s G-spot. I`m sure they must have spent millions of Dollars in research trying to find this Mystical spot which gives them unbelievable pleasure !. All they had to do was phone me, I could have saved them a fortune. Actually there`s more than one which gives such pleasure, here`s two . 1) Just leave them alone and dont interrupt whilst their watching , Emmerdale, East Enders and Corrie. 2) Take them to a shopping centre and give them your credit card. I prefer number 1, it`s cheaper.
So listen Scientists, dont bother wasting any more millions if your thinking of trying to find the male G-Spot, just ask Dr glic, It`s very simple, I will give you an example. First I need a volunteer,………….Thank you GIE, right Scientists, this is the scene, imagine our friend GIE, he`s at the 2005 FA Cup Final, he has a cigerette in one hand, a pint in the other hand and Patrick Viera has just slotted in the Penalty to win the cup for Arsenal. Sucking , Drinking and F**king Man Utd, there you have it , The Male G- Spot or how GIE would probably say , ” The Penalty Spot”.

It’s interesting that people are split on the BFG. From TA’s poll results, it seems his supporters (including those here on AA) are in a minority and the majority agree with Kelsey and VCC.

I thought that once he’d got up to the speed of the EPL he brought huge composure to the side. His playing out of defence was second to none and his defending is better than people give him credit for (although clearly he has a different style to the TV approach).

He also provided amusement for the squad, who would try to land Arshavin on his head when catapulted from the bench… 🙂

Hi Johnnie, well your mate made a great observations of your observational skills, as your comments on AA have been very good and refreshingly new since you came on here. Very good point regarding players not being rested/rotated enough. Do you play football yourself or are you like most of us purely a spectator?

I agree with Randy at 8.18 without having read the counter argument. Mert was a class act this season, and like the DuEnglish guy says in the HP…he brought a calmness to our defending when we needed it most.

Be in no doubt about how much we owe our current position to the BFG’s arrival. Even without him playing for some time now, I feel we are still reaping the benefits of his know how

VCC,
One day to get over the jetlag effect, then 20 days of blogging and bluebell walks. Nice.
By the way, its illegal to pick them.
They are under threat from the imported Spanish variety imported by Garden Centres. Never ever buy them. They are cross pollinating and our variety are exclusive to this island.

I love Boxers they are a bit nuts, unfortunately my Lhasa hates Boxers, I think it stems back to when he was a puppy and a Boxer grabbed his long line lead and dragged him round the park! Whenever he sees one now he tenses up, even if its on the other side of the road, and then he starts growling. 😳

Hopefully the Bluebells are out in Norfolk when i get home as I need to get out with the camera and its always a good subject to photograph

With Spuds and Chavs home to Blackburn and Rangers, a win at Stoke would be brilliant. Who to replace Arteta. Not starting the Ramsey debate, but it a game for in-form players. Can Benny do a job next to Song, or is Coquelin ready?

Hi GiE. My boxer is ten and still nuts. He’s a big softy too, and loves children. The only breed of dog I would have, they are so loyal. If any thing my George is too protective of me. He follows me everywhere, and a big Arsenal fan.

Micky, I think Benny will do a good job for us – a really professional guy, with Le Coq to come on as sub.

GIE, I have a bluebell wood directly opposite me, and as VCC and Micky have said it is one of the most beautiful sights in nature when they bloom.

Another bluebell wood some miles away became so popular in recent years that its own beauty killed it. It had small ‘natural’ footpaths thru it, but when it rained the paths became muddy and people walked further over.
I went back recently and the ‘paths’ had spread and ‘joined up’ so the bluebells have almost been wiped out. Terribly sad. I hope ‘my’ bluebells survive, but who knows.

TA.. I hear that Wenger is going after Luciano Narsingh.. what a news.. Narsingh is owsome winger.. but unlessTheo walcott is gone, than his coming will be useless.. And I don’t feel that we will lose Theo.. But for me better to lose Theo than RVP.. And we can prove it tomorrow in Stoke’s home.. Gervinho or AOC will replace Theo perfectly.. Go Gunners..

Robbin – they are a Basque team and there is a long history of Basques fighting the Spaniards for independence. There is little love lost between the two nations. It would be a little bit like calling Andy Murray English

ahh ok, like calling a Croatian a Yugoslav (so very wrong)..thanks for the info sweetheart, i might do some research today, it is really interesting although when the pundits talk about them they are reffered to as a spanish team

Cheers, i read up and it looks like pep wants a yr away from football altogether..when you said ‘our new manager’ it didnt make sense with Arsene being contracted…but with a year to go and pep on holidays for a year it is a possibility although i would be against it..when i said ‘ridiculous’, i in no way meant to offend or bite, but Arsene is my soft spot and i get very touchy